


Clear the Pane

by Tabithian



Series: Ordinary Ways [8]
Category: Batman (Comics), DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-17
Updated: 2016-01-17
Packaged: 2018-05-14 14:49:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5748667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tabithian/pseuds/Tabithian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Look. It's not that Jason doesn't trust Red, it's just. He doesn't trust the kid.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Clear the Pane

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place shortly after the events in [Between the Lines](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4780031) and right before those in [Favors](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4962319/chapters/12890539).

Look. It's not that Jason doesn't trust Red, it's just. He doesn't trust the kid.

He may have said that a time or two, possibly where Dick could hear.

Might have said it again, just now.

Dick snorts, picking through the small pile of bugs and tracking device and other creeper gear Bruce likes to stock up on Jason's been picking through.

“Really?” Dick asks, holding one of the bugs up to the light to study it. “I hadn't noticed.”

Jason snatches the bug out of Dick's hand and _looks_ at him. 

Because this. 

Red and whatever it is he thinks he's doing at that center of his with the kids – it doesn't sit well with Jason, all right? He's seen a lot of people like him, all pretty promises and sweet words and people never see the trap closing until it's too late. 

Bruce doesn't trust the kid on principle or some bullshit like that, but really,it's Bruce being Bruce. Dick's willing to give the kid a shot, since Red's managed to get Barbara on his side somehow. She's vouched for him, told them they could trust him, but.

It's not so simple for Jason, and he can't find the right words to explain _why_.

Not in any kind of way that sounds logical, or rational or any of the shit that won't make Jason sound crazy, or worse.

Dick watches Jason for a long moment, and then shrugs.

“Yeah, okay,” Dick says, and digs through a drawer to pull out one of the older bugs. “You should try some of these.”

From before Jason's time as Robin, and why it's even still around - 

“This one doesn't show up on a lot of scans,” Dick says, waving it at him. “Comes in handy sometimes.”

Jason looks to where Bruce is pointedly ignoring both of them, supposedly engrossed in chemical analysis on whatever shit he got up to with the League. 

“Huh,” Jason says, pitching his voice to carry. “Guess it's worth keeping the older model around sometimes.”

Bruce doesn't so much as move a muscle, but Dick high-fives him when a low growl reaches them. 

********

Planting the bugs is easy.

Too easy, maybe.

“I don't like it.”

Dick cocks his head, this little smile on his face.

“What part of this don't you like, exactly?”

And, see.

That's Dick being a Dick because he knows damn well what Jason's talking about.

This. 

Barbara had said Red was good, that he did little jobs for her sometimes. Nothing serious, dangerous that she might ask for their help on, more like.

“This kid,” Jason says, turning one of the bugs over in his hand. “He does things like this for Barbara, right?”

Dick nods.

“So,” Jason says. “You'd think he'd know to sweep for shit like this, right?”

Because.

There are bugs all over Red's center now, and it hadn't really been a surprise to find out Barbara had some of her own sprinkled in there.

Red either doesn't know, or care, because -

“Maybe he doesn't have anything to hide,” Dick offers, but he doesn't seem entirely convinced, just voicing a possibility they need to consider.

Red has these little meetings every couple of days down at the center with Jackie and the older kids. Handful of adults Jason's placed from around the neighborhood. 

It's a bit of a surprise when Steph shows up for them, but it sounds like she's been involved with Red and the center for a while now. The way she and Red talk, or the time Red isn't there and Steph and Jackie step up.

The meetings themselves are pretty boring, unless everyone's talking in the most unexciting code ever devised. 

They talk business about the center, work out schedules and all kinds things regarding the center and Red's operation down there, that's.

It's a lot bigger than Jason thought, than Bruce thought. 

Which is probably why Bruce hasn't said anything about Jason focusing so much time and energy and, resources, on this whole.

 _Thing_ he has when it come to Red.

Why Dick is poking his nose into it.

“Maybe,” Jason says, but he doesn't think that's quite right.

Call it a hunch, something weird is up with Red. 

Dick snorts, shoving at Jason's shoulder as he gets to his feet. 

“Come on, suit up. I'm headed back to Bludhaven tomorrow and I want to get some bonding time in with my precious little brother before I leave.”

“Christ,” Jason mutters, ducking under an attempt from Dick to ruffle his hair. “Don't call me that!”

Dick, the bastard, just laughs.

********

Now that he knows what to look for, Jason's kind of surprised no one's picked up on this – any of this – before now. 

There are territory markers, painted hand-prints all over the neighbor Red's center is located in. Small, kid-sized. For the most part the markers are also at kid height, which may be why none of them took notice before. 

Jason slips down there on a weekend when he notices a lot of the businesses in the neighborhood have the markers in their window, or around back, and wonders what thee hell that's supposed to mean.

It's not as easy going unnoticed during the day with the way everyone seems to know an outsider to the neighborhood, but they stop paying attention to him when they realize he's not there to start trouble. Just wandering around on a nice weekend afternoon, stopping in to grab a cold drink from a little grocery market here, stopping for lunch at a corner diner. In no real hurry to be anywhere.

He gets a better look at the way things work down here, things they missed coming here on patrol at night when the businesses were closed.

It's pretty clear the way the older kids look out for the younger ones, always. 

But Jason gets to see more of that, the older kids making rounds with the smaller kids in tow, dropping them off at the businesses with Red's marker the for a few hours before coming back to pick them up.

That's a little familiar from Jason's own life, watching the younger kids helping out around the shops and businesses. Struggling with brooms to sweep floors that are already pretty damn clean and getting paid in recyclables or food that was going to be thrown out at the end of the day. The older kids picking them up and hassling them good-naturedly before taking them to their homes or Red's center.

It's.

Jason doesn't know what to make of it, really, other than how organized everything is. Like this has been happening for a while now, some kind of arrangement in place everyone seems pretty happy about, and that.

Jason doesn't know, really, just that Red has a stronger hold on this neighborhood than Jason realized.

And that leaves Jason with questions, a few more than he started with and Red's pretty hard to find the nights he's not down at the center. No one seems to know where he goes when he's not there or out helping Oracle out with some little matter.

Okay, fine.

No one's willing to share that kind of information with Jason or anyone else, so.

He follows Jackie one night, sees her stopping at the little grocery store. He can see her through the front windows, talking to the woman at the counter. Sees Jake and Bobby run up and try to tackle her to the ground..

Jake goes low, Bobby goes high, and Jackie sidesteps. 

This neat, practiced little move that has Jake sliding past her, and Bobby gets caught around the waist and held at Jackie's side while she continues her conversation like nothing happened.

“Nice,” Dick says.

Jason's eyes narrow and he looks over to where Dick is on his stomach watching Jackie and the kids through a pair of binoculars. 

“I thought you were headed back to Bludhaven?”

Dick lowers the binoculars and looks at Jason, “Oracle told me Red's looking into things on that case I'm working on, not much to do in the meantime.”

Right, right. 

And that's why Dick is following Jason around, while Jason follows Jackie around instead of focusing on his case.

Sure.

********

Red's at the center when Jason and Dick follow Jackie and the kids there.

There's a bit of waffling on Jason's part before he decides hell with it and goes in through the front door.

Jackie glances back at him and rolls her eyes, which.

Fine, not like he was trying that hard to go unseen while he was following her the last couple of blocks. And _Dick_.

All the flippy bullshit.

“You're not subtle,” Jackie says, but there's a smile on her face because the kids are coming out of the woodwork when they realize Nightwing and Blue Jay are there.

This is the first time they've stopped at the center since they learned about it – or, no.

The first time they've stopped at the center and let anyone know they were there, although Red definitely knows they were there. 

Little shit keeps waving at the cameras they planted, but he hasn't done a damn thing about them or the bugs.

Red gets dragged in by the little redhead, who acts as a distraction, chattering away at him while Jake and Bobby make a run at him.

Unlike their attempt with Jackie, they actually manage to topple him, the little redhead joining in while Jackie just looks so very disappointed in Red.

“You're setting a bad example, Red,” she chides, nudging Red's leg. “You let them think they run this place, it's going to be a mess.”

Red says something, muffled, indistinct with the way the kids are sprawled over him trying to pin him down, and Jackie sighs.

“Up,” she says. “Time for homework.”

There's a collective groan at that – Jason sharing a look with Dick because he's pretty sure he heard Red's voice mixed in there with the kids.

Dick shrugs and wanders off to do who knows what, probably plant more bugs or admire the artwork the kids make hanging around the center like some kind of exhibit.

“No arguments,” Jackie says, corner of her mouth twitching as the kids push themselves up slowly, looks on their faces like they're headed to a fate worse than death.

Red sits up and hands the redhead off to Jackie who collects the little pack of brats and ushers them upstairs.

“So.”

Jason looks at Red.

That little ambush of Jake and Bobby's manage to knock the hood of his hoodie back a little, enough for Jason to catch a glimpse of black hair and the way Red's smirking at him.

“You find what you were looking for?”

Jason could, if he were so inclined, pretend he has no idea what the hell Red's talking about,but.

“I still don't trust you,” Jason says, since Red's being direct. 

Red laughs, waves a hand towards one of the cameras Jason and Dick planted earlier.

“I figured,” he says, and instead of being annoyed or angry about it, he just seems amused.

Jason bites back a sigh because this would be so much easier if Red wasn't such a little shit.

********

“How did things go?”

Jason looks away from the center to see Dick walking towards him.

“Where the hell did you go?”

Dick shrugs, dropping down to sit next to Jason. “Did some poking around, tried to get into Red's files again.”

Jason snorts because, wow, yeah. Kid's got some decent security on his computer. Feels a little bit like Barbara, really. And since Red does work for her, it's likely she's taught him a few things when it comes to computers.

“Barbara catch you again?”

Dick makes a face, which is definitely a yes, and bumps his shoulder against Jason's.

They sit for a while, watching Red's center.

Jason's still doesn't trust the kid, not with the way he's got this whole neighborhood wrapped up nice and neat the way he does, but.

Barbara vouches for him, stops them from trying to get to the files he has on that laptop in that joke of an office of his. And there's Jackie, someone who's seen some of the shit Jason has and has just as much, if not more, reason to be suspicious of the little shit and she's one of his fiercest protectors.

There's the fact that Steph comes by a few times a week, and she's.

Well, Jason doesn't know what she is really, aside from being a pain in Bruce's ass, and therefore theirs because _Bruce_.

But she's like Jackie, wouldn't be here if something was up with Red, and Jason.

“I still don't trust him,” Jason says, and it feels a little more like he's trying to convince himself than he actually believes that anymore, because.

He wants to believe Red and everything he's doing here is on the up and up, because.

 _These kids_.

Dick sighs, this odd little smile on his face as he puts an arm around Jason's shoulders and pulls him into a hug that Jason doesn't resist.

“Yeah,” Dick says, arm tightening around Jason. “I know.”

********

Steph catches Jason switching out a few of the bugs a week later. 

Dick's back in Bludhaven and Bruce is on patrol, leaving Jason to deal some bugs that seem to be going on the fritz. It doesn't look deliberate, just faulty parts. Jason should have been in and out with no one the wiser, but apparently not tonight.

“Problem?”Jason asks, wondering if there's going to be one, given Steph's body language.

She takes a step closer and Jason, okay.

He's seen her fight, seen the way she's gotten better since Barbara took more of less took her on as some kind of protege. Bird of Prey in training, who knows when Barbara won't give any of them a straight answer.

There's the thing where they'd gotten into a scuffle or two, way back when they first found out about her, and even then she hit hard.

So this - 

“Fight me.”

What.

Steph smiles, or Jason gets the impression that she does with that face mask of hers.

“You know I help Red with the rugrats, right?”

Jason doesn't really see a need to answer that question, considering what he's doing here.

“Great, then you know what night it is.”

Again, not really seeing a need to answer - 

“Red's talking with busy dealing with paperwork and Jackie's keeping the older kids in line,” Steph says, voice going sweet as anything as she says, “Come on, Bluebird, I need a punching bag.”

Oh, well. When she puts it like that? 

“Hell no.”

Steph snorts, cocking her head. 

“He's not bad, you know? I mean, I get it. Totally suspicious, but. He's okay.”

Steph sounds fond of the kid. Like Red's just so damn precious with his secret identity and weird little operation that's taken over an entire neighborhood. That's managed to ensnare people like Barbara and Jackie and Steph, and that's.

Jason won't rule Red building himself a little cult here out, but that sounds a little weak even to him. (Still, worth some looking into, though.)

Overall, Jason's stance on Red is on shaky ground, has been shakier as time goes by, because Red. This damn center, seems to be on the up and up.

And now that Dick's gotten the kid some help. Gotten Bruce in on things on the legal side of things, they've been able to get a look at some of the center's files, and it all adds up.

But Jason still can't shake the idea that it's a little too good to be true even though all evidence says otherwise.

Steph's watching him, waiting, and Jason.

Hell,what better way to find out if something's hinky here than to get closer for a better look, right?

“Oh, what the hell, why not?”

“That's the spirit,” Steph says. “Finish your paranoid Bat-thing and head downstairs when you're ready to get your ass handed to you.”

That's. 

“Please,” Jason says, turning back to what he was doing before Steph walked in. “As if.”

********

“You need an ice pack for that?”

Jason scowls at Red who has the world's blandest expression on his face, and takes the damn ice pack the kid's offering him because Jason's not that big of an idiot. He hisses as he gingerly places it against his eye, ignoring the little huff of laughter from Red.

Steph hits hard, and she's gotten better than Jason expected, which. 

Bruce will have something to say about that, and so will Dick, and oh, Jason's not looking forward to training with either of them in the near future.

Red laughs, that quiet little thing and hitches himself up on one of the tables shoved to the back of the room.

“She hit me with a brick when we first met,” Red says, and the hell of it is, he sounds fond,like it's a good memory.

Jason looks at Red, and the kid shrugs, like he knows that's kind of a fucked up thing to have warm fluffy feels over.

“You're welcome to come back and help out whenever you like, you know,” he says. “We can always use the help.”

Red's smiling as he watches Jake and Bobby showing the little redhead how to throw a punch, Jackie looking on. Steph's with a group of older kids, demonstrating moves at half-speed.

There are little groups of kids ranging form the little redhead's age to Jason's age spread across the room, working on self-defense moves.

“Kind of looks like you're training up an army here, you know.”

Red tilts his head, like he's trying to see that, and laughs again.

“Little bit, yeah.”

That comes out warm, amused, and Jason.

Hell, he doesn't know anymore.

Because this, Red helping to teach the kids how to defend themselves wasn't something he was expecting to find.

He'd known, listening in through the bugs, the footage they got from the cameras, but he hadn't really understood at the same time.

Because the kids, they're learning something that might save their lives one day because who the hell even knows in Gotham, and they're enjoying themselves. Laughing and joking and it's so damn obvious every single one of them feels safe here.

That Red and Jackie and everyone involved has made this a safe place for them, and that.

“Still don't trust you,” Jason mutters, completely aware that he sounds so damn ridiculous, because if nothing else, he's a stubborn bastard.

Red glances sidelong at him, this stupid little smile on his face. 

“I figured,” he says, just like the last time. 

Jason huffs, shooting the little shit a look because seriously, he's not helping.

Red grins like he _knows_ , and Jason.

Christ, this kid, okay. 

Such a little shit.


End file.
